Two Illegal and Two "Therapeutic" Abortions, All Fatal

On February 11, 1907, housemaid Nellie Walsh, a 28-year-old Irish immigrant, was brought to National Emergency Hospital in Chicago in grave condition from complications of a criminal abortion. A curettage was performed to try to save her life, but her condition continued to deteriorate. The next day, February 12, the doctor told Nellie that there was nothing more that could be done for her, and that she was dying. Head nurse Cora Bachino asked Nellie if she'd like a priest to administer last rites. Nellie answered yes, and a priest was brought to her. After last rites, Nellie made her dying declaration, naming Dr. Adolph Buettner as her abortionist. Less than an hour later, she died.

Dr. A.B.C. Davis maintained an office, operating rooms, and rooms with beds for patients in Oklahoma City. Mary Sudik, age 20, and her husband, Ernest Sudik, lived some miles southeast of Oklahoma City, on a truck farm. Early in February, 1923, Mary found out that she was pregnant, and that she and her husband asked around for an abortionist and were referred to Davis. Mary developed an infection that ended her life on February 12.

Bonnie Fix, a 38-year-old mother of four, was admitted to Fresno Community Hospital on February 7, 1974 for an abdominal hysterectomy abortion, done for unspecified medical reasons. Several days later, Bonnie started to suffer bowel and lung problems. She went into cardiac arrest and died on February 12.

Elise Kalat was 22 years old, a clerk in a photography studio, when she underwent a "therapeutic" abortion sometime around February 10, 1987. Two days after this safe, legal abortion, her bronchial tubes went into spasms and caused her to go into respiratory arrest. She died at Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 12, 1987.